Method and system for SMS based ticket number service over femtocell access point

ABSTRACT

A Femtocell Access Point (FAP) is used to provision a ticket number service. Customers approach the FAP and are given a ticket number indicating their place in the queue through an SMS message. Follow up SMS messages are sent updating the customer of their current position in line, as well as when it is their turn. Statistics may be generated from information gathered at the FAP and sent to an external client module.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority from U.S. Provisional Application61/268,592 filed Jun. 15, 2009.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of Invention

The present invention relates to the field of wireless telecommunicationnetworks. In particular, this invention relates to ticket numberservices offered in a femtocell base station.

2. Discussion of Related Art

The proliferation of number of mobile subscribers and increasing demandfor more coverage as well as higher data rate have given rise todeployment of femtocells. Femtocells are small base station just enoughto provide indoor coverage. This enhances the quality of communicationindoor and operators are able to off load traffic from macro networksince they use the customer backhaul to connect femtocells to theoperator's network. Hence, reduces their operational expenses sincefemtocells provide cellular service to mobile subscribers using dataservice of the user (e.g., DSL, fiberoptic, cable, WiMX, etc). Unlikemacro base stations, setup of femtocell is indoor at the customerpremises, which requires installation improvements. Also, femtocell isan enabler for location based services (LBS) since they pin-point thelocation of the mobile subscriber without requiring any otherlocationing equipment.

The femtocell access point provides wireless communication in an indoorwireless area within a residential enterprise while a service providermay provide wireless communication in a macro area with a macro basestation. The femtocell has an interface with one or more wired orwireless ports to establish communication between mobile subscriber andwide area network. Additionally, the femtocell may include one or moreprocessors and memory to implement various services described below.

Femtocell can be connected to operator's core network in several ways.Each standard defines the means of connection and access. For example,in 3G UMTS, industry standard bodies are working on an interface where aco-located architecture of NodeB/BTS and RNC/BSC are placed in femtocellaccess point (FAP aka Home Node B). There are also two otherarchitecture for 3G; SIP/IMS based architecture, UMA based architecture.Femtocells connect to a femtocell gateway (FGW, aka HNB Gateway). InWiMAX, on the other hand, femtocells have the functionality of macrobase station and connect to access service network gateway (ASN-GW).

Femtocells are plenty and unlike macro base stations, which are fewer innumber, provisioning and management of femtocells are handleddifferently. Since it is in the customer premises, femtocellarchitecture is similar to fixed wire-line broadband networks. The femtoforum recommends that Broadband Forum's TR-069 “CPE WAN ManagementProtocol” and the data model for UMTS femtocell remote management wasratified as TR-196. This way secures CPE auto-configuration andmanagement, including diagnostics and troubleshooting, performancemonitoring, and software/image management, is performed on a commonframework.

On one side, a femtocell gateway has an interface to femtocells and onthe other side, it integrates to operator's packet and circuit services.In other words, FAP GW is a concentrator of control and data traffic offemtocells.

In brief, a femtocell network shall satisfy two dimensions: the abilityto maintain quality of communication at carrier-grade level withrequired infrastructure, and openness to host advance services to enableservice providers to capitalize on service differentiation opportunitiesand streamline operational costs.

U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,289,214 (Backstrom), 6,374,102 (Brachman et al.),6,643,505 (Kamperschroer), and 7,239,881 (Lekutai), as well as U.S.Patent Application Publications 2008/0207269 (Byrne et al.) and2009/0156208 (Vesterinen et al.), all describe various femto/picocellsystems that use SMS messaging. However, none of these referencessuggest or imply using SMS messaging to create a ticket number service.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A method for providing ticket number service through a Femtocell AccessPoint (FAP) via Short Message Service (SMS), comprising the steps of:(1) receiving a request containing an identifier associated with asubscriber from a subscriber user equipment to attach to the FAP, (2)generating a ticket number indicative of the subscriber's place in aqueue for service, and (3) sending an SMS message with the ticket numberto the subscriber.

A Femtocell Access Point (FAP) comprising a short range wirelessinterface that allows communication with a subscriber user equipment, abackhaul network interface that allows communication with a corenetwork, an SMS module that can generate a ticket number indicative ofthe subscriber's place in a queue for service in response to an attachrequest from the subscriber user equipment. The SMS module can furthersend an SMS message with the ticket number to the subscriber.

A method for providing ticket number service through a Femtocell AccessPoint (FAP) via Short Message Service (SMS) comprising the steps of: (1)receiving a request with a telephone number associated with a subscriberfrom the subscriber's mobile telephone to attach to the FAP when themobile telephone is brought within coverage of the FAP, (2) generating aticket number indicative of the subscriber's place in a queue forservice, (3) sending a message comprising said telephone number and saidticket number to an external client module, (4) sending an SMS messagewith the ticket number to the subscriber, (5) sending periodic updateSMS messages comprising updated indications of the subscriber's positionin the queue, and (6) sending a final update SMS message comprising anindication that a subscriber action is required.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a network system including a femtocell access point.

FIG. 2 illustrates a general block diagram of a femtocell access point.

FIG. 3 illustrates a flowchart of the providing ticket number servicewith a femtocell access point.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

FIG. 1 illustrates the overall telecommunications system including afemtocell access point. User 102 typically uses subscriber equipment104, such as a mobile telephone, to communicate over core network 130 totelecommunications service 120. Telecommunications service 120 routesthe user communication as needed. External client modules may reside ontelecommunications service 120 to provide additional processing ofcommunications as directed by external clients. In the preferredembodiment, core network 130 is a cellular telephone network.

Femtocell access point (FAP) 106 connects to modem 108 in order tocommunicate through Internet 110 to telecommunications service 120. Inaddition to connecting through core network 130, subscriber equipment104 can use (FAP) 106 to communicate to telecommunications service 120.

The proposed system modifies a femtocell 106 with modules presented inFIG. 2. Femtocell 106 hosts the functionalities to perform servicesdefined by the standards, including wireless interface 210 and backhaulnetwork interface 230. SMS module 220 can create or terminate SMSmessages from scratch. SMS module 220 also relays the outgoing SMSmessages to telecommunications service 120. Termination of SMS messagesin femtocell may be performed with the capability of Deep PacketInspection (DPI) module 260.

DPI module 260 inspects the type and content of the packet. DPI firstdetermines the source and destination from the header and then inspectsthe payload to see the type and content of the packet. In this case, DPImodule 260 only applies a ruleset to detect SMS messages, which does notrequire much processing power.

SMS module 220 can also delay the incoming SMS and store it in storagememory 240. Storage memory 240 may also contain pre-configured SMSmessages.

SMS module 220 checks Access Control List (ACL) 250, which shows theconnected MSs/UEs, then determines where to send the incoming SMS. ACL250 also serves as the access list of mobile subscribers. Sincefemtocells are in the customer premises, femtocell owner may allowcertain subscribers to use its femtocell and its services and may rejectconnection requests of others. Also, a femtocell owner or operator mayutilize some portion of its backhaul bandwidth for any subscriber.

Overall System

This added capability plus embedded SMS alert in all handsets enablesapplications to be deployed via this newly defined femtocell.Applications include but not limited to

-   -   Home Zone Indication    -   Femtocell ACS Management    -   Inhome Notification    -   Unauthorized user Notification    -   Presence Service    -   Ticket Number SMS Service        Home Zone Indication

A user that connects to a femtocell has to be notified, because gettinga connection from femtocell may be encouraged by the operator withincentives. Additionally, a different set of services may be availablethrough femtocell than those available through the core network. As aresult, a femtocell user has to find out when it is connected to afemtocell. Sending an SMS after the connection is approved is oneeffective way to notify the user. This SMS is called home zoneindication and can be generated with SMS module 220 in femtocell 106.

In the same manner, a femtocell user has to learn when he leaves thefemtocell, if he is getting away from the femtocell, or if the femtocellconnection is broken. If the connection to the femtocell is broken, anotification mechanism is performed by the core network. However for theformer case, when the femtocell is triggered for handover, the femtocellmay notify the user via SMS.

Femtocell ACS Management

Femtocell services are proposed with two different access models: OpenAccess Model and Closed Access Model. Open Access Model allows anysubscriber to get access from the femtocell. Closed Access Model, onlyallows certain mobile subscribers and rejects others. In some deploymentscenarios, in Closed Access Model, there could be a bandwidth limitationfor any subscriber who is not in the preferred list. In any case,monitoring the subscriber identity at the beginning of the attachprocedure is required and it is desirable to reject them at thefemtocell level in order to prevent propagating the attach requestconnection to the telecommunications service. Hence, backhaul bandwidthconsumption is omitted.

Typically, this type of preferred list creation can be done with anoperator's element management system assistance or logging in to thefemtocell via web browser to talk to a local web server in thefemtocell. However, with the method and system introduced here, SMSmessaging can be utilized to create a femtocell preferred list.

An SMS messaging scheme is introduced where the authorized owner of thefemtocell sends an SMS message to another mobile subscriber's phonenumber. DPI module 260 interprets the SMS message and inspects thecontent. If it finds that the SMS is in the desired format, itterminates the SMS message and sends back the content to SMS module 220.SMS module 220 updates the access control list 250 with the contents andsends back a confirmation message to the mobile subscriber.Telecommunications service 120 may pull or femtocell 106 may push thisinformation to the operator's data base. If the operator's database hasan SMS server that has the ability to update the database with SMScontent, then mobile subscribers can uses that address in the beginning,and DPI module 260 does not terminate the SMS message but relays it tothe SMS server of the operator's database at the same time gives backthe SMS content to SMS module 220 for it to update access control list250 in femtocell 106. Confirmation to the mobile subscriber may be rightaway or upon receiving a confirmation from the operator's database. Inthis case, there will be no need to additionally update the operator'sdatabase.

Inhome SMS Notification

A user who wishes to put a “post-it” note to a particular user only whenthat user arrives to the customer premises sends a SMS with a code viathe femtocell. User 1 connecting to the femtocell sends an SMS to user 2with a specific code (“home”) or time (“19:00”) or both. The formercondition states that user 1 sends a note to user 2 which will bedelivered only when user 2 arrives home. The latter condition statesthat the message will be delivered to user at 19:00 pm anywhere or onlyat home if “home” is in code as well.

In order to enable this scenario, first DPI module 260 detects the SMSand looks at the code. If code is for example “home,” then it notifiesSMS module 220 with the SMS content. SMS module 220 checks accesscontrol list 250 to see if user 2 is in the home. If user 2 is not home,SMS module 220 stores the message in storage 240. When user 2 arrives athome, SMS module 220 is notified from ACL 250 and SMS module 220 checksstorage 240 for any SMS message to be delivered.

If the SMS has time component in the code, SMS module 220 records anevent and stores the SMS in storage 240. When the time comes, SMS module220 sends the message to the user via either core network 130 or throughFAP 106 depending on where user 2 is at that time. If the code has alsohome component, SMS module 220 only sends the SMS when user 2 is at homeat that time, otherwise it discards the SMS. Storage 240 stores the SMSmessages until a pre-defined lifetime.

Note that Inhome SMS services most of the time do not consume CoreNetwork Resources and the telecommunications operator is not aware ofthe number of SMS messages sent. Hence, this can be an add-on featureand can be managed and priced accordingly.

Unauthorized User Notification

A femtocell has the ability to trigger an SMS message which can directlyopen a communication channel to a handset. The handset alerts the userwhen the SMS message arrives via ring or vibration. This ability can beutilized for other scenarios. In one scenario, a femtocell may beleveraged as a warning for those who are in the vicinity of the customerpremises. In order to enable such a service, femtocell has to operate inthe Open Access Mode for a short time in a periodic manner.

First, the femtocell turns on open access mode and receives the accessrequest signals from the subscribers who are in the vicinity. Then itchecks the preferred list and filters out those are on it. After this,the femtocell SMS module triggers an SMS for those who are not on thelist. The SMS module builds in a hysteresis for subscribers over time inorder to avoid false triggers and spamming the same subscriber.

Examples of usage includes but not limited to following;

-   -   Security purposes: “You are trespassing, we recorded your        number!”    -   Information purposes: “Please use back door for delivery!”    -   Advertisement purposes: “Discount on the shoes!”        Presence Services

As long as subscriber is attached to the femtocell, information can beextracted to offer additional services. For instance, services forsenior people are offered by assigning a periodic SMS triggering event.SMS module 220 in the femtocell may send periodic SMS messages to thesubscriber and wait for him to respond. If the SMS messages are notresponded in a timely manner, SMS module 220 in the femtocell sends anoutgoing SMS message either to emergency services or to a designatedrelative of the user. The femtocell may also correlate the signalstrength readings of the user and if those don't change over time, itmay trigger an emergency SMS message. This only consumes minimumbackhaul bandwidth and operator's resources.

Also, presence services for a home are offered by monitoring the attachrequests and detach request of subscribers. The following notificationscan be sent to designated subscribers:

-   -   Send SMS out when (kid, mom, dad, etc.) arrives/leaves home    -   Send SMS out when there is nobody/somebody at home    -   Send SMS out with the time spent at home by an employee        Ticket Number SMS Service

A femtocell with reduced power (without violating the licensed spectrumrequirements) can be used as a ticket number box. A subscriber who wouldlike to get a service number may bring his handset to the vicinity ofthe box and get a number in SMS. This can be used in banks, shops, postoffices, etc. Coverage is reduced less than 1 m and short term openaccess model can be utilized. Once a number has been requested, coveragemay be provided by either the femtocell or the core network.

The following functionalities are offered:

-   -   Ability to Trigger Next Ticket Number    -   Remove the Serviced Ticket Number    -   Notifies subscriber 0/1/5/10 minutes before his service is ready    -   Provides daily statistics

Operation of femtocell access point 106 for ticket number service isdepicted in FIG. 3. A subscriber enters the coverage area of FAP 106 andhis phone sends an attach request with an identifier, such as thesubscriber's telephone number (Step 310). FAP 106 generates a ticketnumber that is to be assigned to the subscriber (Step 320). Optionally,information such as the identifier and ticket number may be sent to anexternal client module, which may reside with the coretelecommunications service (Step 330). Statistics can be gathered in acentral database through the external client module. Next, thesubscriber is sent an SMS message with his ticket number (Step 340). Theinitial SMS message, as well as subsequent messages pertaining to theticket service, may be delivered either through FAP 106 or core network130. As a result, subscribers don't need to wait in the premises andhigh-cost digital displays are not needed.

After the subscriber has been sent his ticket number, the ticket systemperiodically checks to see if the subscriber's ticket number is the nextin line (Step 350). If the subscriber is the next in line, a final SMSmessage is sent informing the subscriber (Step 370). If the subscriberis not the next in line, the ticket system checks to see if thesubscriber has moved up sufficiently in line (Step 360). If thesubscriber has moved up sufficiently in line, an update SMS is sent tothe subscriber with the new position (Step 380). If the subscriber hasnot moved up sufficiently in line, the ticket system waits beforebeginning checking again. In another embodiment of the invention, theupdate SMS describes additional information regarding the subscriber'sposition in line, such as an estimated wait time based on customerservice time statistics.

A subscriber who no longer wants to use the ticket numbering service cannotify FAP 106 to remove his or her ticket number from the queue anddiscontinue any further update SMS messages. The notification may bedirectly through FAP 106, through core network 130, or may beautomatically detected. In one embodiment, a subscriber who does notrespond to the SMS message notifying the subscriber that he or she is atthe top of the line is automatically placed in a late queue. Thesubscriber can place themselves back in the main queue by sending an SMSmessage to the ticket service. After a certain time, subscribers in thelate queue are automatically dropped from all queues.

While this invention is illustrated and described in a preferredembodiment, the invention may be produced in many differentconfigurations. There is depicted in the drawings, and will herein bedescribed in detail, a preferred embodiment of the invention, with theunderstanding that the present disclosure is to be considered as anexemplification of the principles of the invention and the associatedfunctional specifications for its construction and is not intended tolimit the invention to the embodiment illustrated. Those skilled in theart will envision many other possible variations within the scope of thepresent invention.

Additionally, the present invention provides for an article ofmanufacture comprising computer readable program code contained withinimplementing one or more modules to provide ticket service through aFemtocell Access Point via Short Message Service. Furthermore, thepresent invention includes a computer program code-based product, whichis a storage medium having program code stored therein which can be usedto instruct a computer to perform any of the methods associated with thepresent invention. The computer storage medium includes any of, but isnot limited to, the following: CD-ROM, DVD, magnetic tape, optical disc,hard drive, floppy disk, ferroelectric memory, flash memory,ferromagnetic memory, optical storage, charge coupled devices, magneticor optical cards, smart cards, EEPROM, EPROM, RAM, ROM, DRAM, SRAM,SDRAM, or any other appropriate static or dynamic memory or data storagedevices.

Implemented in computer program code based products are software modulesfor: (a) generating a ticket number in response to a request from asubscriber; (b) sending a notification to an external module; and (c)sending SMS messages to a subscriber.

CONCLUSION

A system and method has been shown in the above embodiments for theeffective implementation of a Femtocell ticket service. While variouspreferred embodiments have been shown and described, it will beunderstood that there is no intent to limit the invention by suchdisclosure, but rather, it is intended to cover all modificationsfalling within the spirit and scope of the invention, as defined in theappended claims. For example, the present invention should not belimited by software/program, computing environment, or specificcomputing hardware.

The above enhancements are implemented in various computingenvironments. For example, the present invention may be implemented on aconventional PC or equivalent, multi-nodal system (e.g., LAN) ornetworking system (e.g., Internet, WWW, wireless web). All programmingand data related thereto are stored in computer memory, static ordynamic, and may be retrieved by the user in any of: conventionalcomputer storage, display (e.g, CRT, LCD, etc.) and/or hardcopy (e.g.,printed) formats. The programming of the present invention may beimplemented by one having ordinary skill in the art oftelecommunications.

1. A method for providing ticket number service through a FemtocellAccess Point (FAP) via Short Message Service (SMS), said methodcomprising the steps of: receiving a request from a subscriber userequipment to attach to said FAP, said request containing an identifierassociated with a subscriber; generating a short term ticket numberindicative of said subscriber's place in a queue for service; sending aninitial SMS message comprising said short term ticket number to saidsubscriber; periodically checking to see when said subscriber has movedup in said queue for service; sending an update SMS message comprisingan indication of an updated position of the subscriber in said queue forservice; when said subscriber has moved up to a first position of saidqueue for service, sending a final update SMS message; removing saidshort term ticket number from said queue for service when the subscribernotifies said FAP; said short term ticket number also being removed fromsaid queue for service after said final update SMS message is sent. 2.The method of claim 1, wherein said initial SMS message furthercomprises an indication of the position of the subscriber in the queue.3. The method of claim 1, wherein said update SMS message comprises anindication that a subscriber action is required.
 4. The method of claim1, wherein said update SMS message comprises an indication of estimatedwait time.
 5. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step ofsending a message with said identifier to an external client module. 6.The method of step 1, wherein said SMS message is sent through one of:said FAP or a core network.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein saididentifier is a phone number.
 8. The method of claim 1, wherein saidsubscriber user equipment is a mobile telephone.
 9. A method forproviding ticket number service through a Femtocell Access Point (FAP)via Short Message Service (SMS), said method comprising the steps of:receiving a request from a subscriber's mobile telephone to attach tosaid FAP when said mobile telephone is brought within one meter of saidFAP, said request comprising a telephone number associated with asubscriber; generating a short term ticket number indicative of saidsubscriber's place in a queue for service; sending a message to anexternal client module, said message comprising said telephone numberand said ticket number; sending an initial SMS message comprising saidshort term ticket number to said subscriber; periodically checking tosee when said subscriber has moved up said queue for service; sendingperiodic update SMS messages comprising updated indications of thesubscriber's position in the queue; and sending a final update SMSmessage when said subscriber has moved up to the a first position ofsaid queue for service, said final update SMS message comprising anindication that a subscriber action is required; removing said shortterm ticket number from said queue for service when said subscribernotifies said FAP; said short term ticket number also being removed fromsaid queue for service after said final update SMS message is sent.